ZeXal Chronicles
by Kitten Knight
Summary: Alternate Universe. The race is on to collect the Numbers, but why? Yuma and company are swept into the adventure of a lifetime. Can they collect all the Numbers? Or will someone, or something, stop them?
1. Chapter 1 - Number 39: Utopia

**Ham Man: **Ok, I'm going to admit it. I have _slight _writers block for Yu-Gi-Oh Revolution, which is why chapter 16 was late, and chapters 17+ as well. But I promise you, I will _eventually_ get back to it. For now, I'm going to work on a little side project until I get over my writers block.

This fanfic is going to be alternate universe of Yu-Gi-Oh! ZeXal, plus a little extra challenge for myself…

Duels are going to use real life rules, and players will start with 8000 Life Points (_Yay!_ _More Writing!_), the March 2013 Ban List is in effect, until September. So NO Sangan, NO Wind-Up Carrier Zemaity, and definitely NO Rescue Cat… unless the September lists say otherwise...

Cards that have different effects in the anime and TCG will use the TCG effect (E.g. Numbers can be destroyed by non-Numbers, Utopia will self destruct if it is attacked without any overlay units, Gagaga Girl can change her level to Gagaga Magician's, etc).

I will use TCG card names (Eg. Number 39: King of Wishes, Hope – Number 39: Utopia).

Keeping the Zexal spirit, I am **not** going to use Tuners and Synchros, at all. 5D's era cards, that don't require or support Tuners and Synchros, will still be used, (Eg. Sonic Chick, Vice Dragon – just about any card that could fit into a non-Synchro/Tuner deck).

I will use as few original and anime only cards as possible, if any at all.

Yuma is going to start off by using Starter Deck 2011. He will gain more cards as the story progresses. Also he isn't going to be almost completely incompetent at duelling like he was at the beginning of ZeXal, but not a hyper-competent strategist either.

/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\ /\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\/\

**Chapter 1 - Number 39: Utopia**

"_Kattobingu_ – to never give up, even when all the odds are stacked against you and when your goals seem impossible"

That's what one black-haired, brown-eyed, half frozen to death man lying at the bottom of an icy crevasse found himself saying, as falling snow piled on top of him.

"_Kattobingu – to always challenge and believe oneself."_

The man held a small notebook close to his chest. His breathing suddenly got deeper, as the cold started to get to him again.

"Mirai… Haru… Akari…" The man said between breaths, he was thinking about his family; his wife, his mother, his daughter, and his son. "Yuma…"

He remembered how he got himself into this situation; it was just like every other adventure into this freezing wasteland with Mirai. Well, until the earth collapsed from underneath his feet, falling into the icy hellhole, cutting the support line to save Mirai from the same fate, then lying here for what seemed like an eternity, deciding whether to 'give up Kattobingu and wait for death to arrive'. Each time he asked himself to decide, death seemed more and more like the saner option.

"Kazuma, you old fool," the man laughed. "Stop thinking that even on the verge of death, the Kattobingu spirit will stop." He breathed in deep, then opened his mouth wide and screamed, "KATTOBINGU!"

Not to far away, a few members of rescue team raised their heads. "Did you hear that?" one of them asked. "It has to be him!"

"Impossible," another rescuer replied, "He can't be alive; it's been a week since he's been missing." Despite his disbelief, the rescue worker ordered the team toward the source of the sound.

* * *

A helicopter hovered precariously above the Heartland City Hospital. "Careful! Careful! If we come down to hard we could put the patient into shock!" the co-pilot desperately warned.

"I know, I know," the pilot replied. "It's these damn headwinds."

"Hurry up!" yelled a doctor, as he checked an unconscious Kazuma's pulse. "He's fading fast."

"We've got to land now!" The pilot declared, as he grabbed the control stick, and steered the helicopter down toward the helipad.

* * *

"Ugh…" Kazuma groaned, he felt warm and safe… definitely no longer out in the freezing cold, he could hear the relieved voices of others crowded around him.

"He's waking up!" cheered a familiar female voice.

"Amazing," commented an unfamiliar voice, "it's barely been a week and he's showing major signs of a recovery."

"Does that mean Dad's going to be okay?" asked a young boy's voice.

"Yes it does Yuma," another voice, an old woman's, explained.

"And he'll be home soon?" The young boy asked

"Yeah it does," the snappy voice of teenage girl, "and it means I won't be stuck watching you all day anymore."

"Well," the young boy retaliated, sticking out his tongue, "at least I won't be stuck with you watching me all day."

"Cut it out you two," the voice of the old woman ordered, sounding much sterner than before.

"Yes Grandma," both the young boy and teenaged girl replied.

Kazuma opened his eyes, the first thing he saw was what anybody waking up in a hospital would see, the sparkling white-tiled ceiling.

"My notebook…" Kazuma mumbled, only half conscious, with his hand grasping empty space.

"Amazing," said the doctor, his jaw hanging down in a gob smacked expression. "A man in his condition should be in a coma for… for… for at least a month, and he's pulling out of it in less than a week!"

"All right dad!" cheered the young boy.

"Yuma…" Kazuma muttered, "The notebook Yuma… Yuma…"

"Yuma."

"Yuma."

"_Yuma."_

* * *

"Yuma!" yelled a tired, and bored, sounding voice. Followed by the sound of a hand slapping a cheek, then a pained screamed, a chair toppling over, and finally the sound of a black, and somehow bright red, haired boy crashing onto the floor.

"Kotori," the boy glared at the green haired girl, "What was that for?"

"You were snoring too loud!" the girl replied, "I can't hear Mr. Kitano."

"Eh," Yuma replied, standing up and setting his chair upright. "Does it matter? It's not like anyone else is listening."

Yuma was mostly right; almost everyone else in class was slumped over their desks half asleep, courtesy of their teaching getting overenthusiastic about a new computer program about to be launched, so enthusiastic that he failed to realise most of his class were bored out of the minds.

"Oh, and the program will increase processor speed by thirty percent, and D-Gazer inter-connectivity problems will be a thing of the past." Mr. Kitano smiled, as he happily looked up from his laptop, only for his expression to change when he realise that he'd put more than half his class to sleep. "Oh dear. It seems I got a little carried away and bored most of my student."

"That's okay, teacher," a blue haired student in the front row of desks reassured, "To summarize, it was a very insightful lesson."

"Thankyou Takashi," Mr. Kitano smiled, as he looked at the clock on the wall, "Hmmm, it's almost time to go, I suppose I could let you students out a few minutes early."

Almost instantly, almost every student perked up, some of whom plead, "Please teacher, a few early minutes would be great!"

"Well I guess…" Mr. Kitano hesitantly agreed, only to have most of his class rush toward the door at lightning speed, leaving only four students left in the classroom. "I'd better head down to the teacher's office and hand in the attendance, you five don't stay too long, you get in trouble." And with that, Mr Kitano, at a much slower pace than his students, left the room.

"Oh now look what you made me do Kotori," Yuma moaned, "Now I'm going to be late to the duel monsters tournament at the mall. You shouldn't have slapped me."

"If I didn't slap you," Kotori replied, pointing to a desk across the room "You'd still be asleep, just like Tetsuo over there."

Sure enough, in the direction Kotori pointed, sat a large boy, laying back in his chair with his feet up on the desk, a loud snore every few seconds indicated he was still asleep.

"Tetsuo, you fat idiot!" Yuma yelled, as he leaped over his deck and dashed toward the sleeping teen. "We'll be late for the duel monsters tournament at the mall because of you!"

Yuma's actions startled Tetsuo, causing him to fall of his chair and onto the floor with a loud 'thud' sound, his bright red cap falling off his head, exposing his messing black hair.

"What was that for?" Tetsuo roared, as he grabbed his hat off the floor and placed it on his head. Then turned it backward, as a long spike of hair stuck out the small hole usually found at the back of a cap.

"Because you fell asleep in class." Yuma replied. "And now we're going to be late for the tournament!"

"Hey," Tetsuo shouted, "I didn't hear the end bell. And it's not like I'm the only one who fell asleep, I saw you asleep long before I was Yuma!"

"I was not!" Yuma denied.

"Yes you were," Kotori commented, crossing her arms and giving Yuma a glare.

"Oh, whatever you say Kotori," Yuma hastily agreed as he rubbed his cheek, "just don't slap me again."

"See you admitted it!" Tetsuo laughed triumphantly, "I was right."

"So what it's still your fault we going to miss the spot in tournament," Yuma complained. "There were only eight spots. I knew we should've signed up yesterday, but you said it'd be alright, we should just stay at my house, you lazy fat ass!"

"Hey I told you not to call me fat ass, dumb ass!" Tetsuo angrily replied. "And it was you who didn't want to go the mall yesterday, not me."

"Excuse me, Tetsuo, Yuma," Takashi politely cut in, "but I'd like to explain something…"

"Not now class rep," both buys interrupted.

"Calm down you two," Kotori ordered. "The class rep. is saying something important."

But Kotori's words fell on deaf, or at least ignorant and angry, ears. "There's only one way to settle this problem," Yuma announced, grabbing his deck box off his belt, "a good old fashion duel."

"But Yuma," Takashi noted, "a duel takes a while to play out. To summarize, you'll be even later to the tournament."

But just like Kotori, Takashi's words also fell on deaf ears. "Fine," Tetsuo agreed, "We'll duel right here!"

"That's fine with me!" Yuma agreed, already placing his duel-gazer over his eye.

"You guys are really duelling in the classroom?" Kotori asked, amazed.

"Well why not?" Yuma replied.

"Plenty of reasons…" Kotori sighed.

"Any reason is a good reason to duel, Kotori!" Yuma replied, preparing himself to back flip over the desk behind him.

"Yuma," Takashi warned, "these desks aren't fixed to the floor, to summarise you'll…"

But Takashi's warning was ignored by Yuma, as the red and black haired teen launched himself over the table and into the air, only to land face first on the floor a second later.

There was a moment of silence, which was eventually broken by Yuma's pained scream, as the teen tore picked his, now red and throbbing, face off the ground.

"Idiot," Tetsuo smiled, "I knew that would happen."

Yuma stood up and immediately retaliated, "Oh shut up already and duel." Yuma grabbed a small red device off his belt and attacked it to his arm. "Duel disk, set!" he yelled, as the device on his arm extended, forming a duel disk set up on his arm.

"Alright, guys watch closely," Tetsuo teased, slipping a device similar to Yuma's onto his arm "this won't take long. Duel disk set!" Tetsuo's device extended to create a duel disk, just like Yuma's.

"_AR Link Established,"_ both boys D-Pad beeped.

"Let's Duel!" Yuma announced, drawing the top five cards off his deck.

"Same here buddy," Tetsuo smirked, as he too drew cards from his deck.

Kotori sighed and put her D-Gazer over her eye. "If it's going to happen might as well watch."

The furniture in the classroom disappeared due to the augmented reality, the floor and walls changed colours and the ceiling shined bright white. Several small pink and green crystal pillars floated around the students.

**[Yuma: 8000/Tetsuo: 8000]**

"I'll start things off. Draw!" Yuma announced, he looked over his cards; Dark Blade, Ganbara Knight, Harmonic Waves, Tenshin, Reinforce Truth and Reinforced Space. "I summon Dark Blade (1800/1500)."

Thousands of black pixels pulled together into a large mass, then a man in pitch black armour with several long spikes protruding out of it, stepped out of the pixel mass. The dark warrior raised one of his swords toward Tetsuo.

"I set one card face down and end my turn." Yuma announced, as a face down card appeared behind Dark Blade.

"1800 attack, that's a little strong for a level four monster isn't it?" Kotori asked.

"Oh no," Takashi replied, "I've heard that there are level four monsters with even more than that. To summarize level four monsters can sometimes be even more powerful than monsters of a higher level."

"Well if you think 1800 is powerful," Tetsuo smiled, drawing his card, "then watch this, my turn! I summon Aye-Iron (1600/1800)."

The sound of clashing cymbals echoed through the room, as a strange kangaroo-like machine rose from the ground. The creature wore blue overall, had a wind up key in its back and held a pair of cymbals, clanged its symbols together energetically.

"Only 1600 attack!" Yuma laughed. "Come on Tetsuo you can do better than that!"

Without hesitation Tetsuo announced, "I activate the effect of Aye-Iron, at the cost of not attacking this turn, Aye-Iron's attack increases by 400!"

The key in Aye-Iron's back turned; the machine back flipped effortlessly as and banged its cymbals together. (1600-2000)

"Show off," Yuma mumbled.

"You're just lucky Aye-Iron can't attack this turn," Tetsuo announced, "I set one card face down and end my turn."

A face down card materialised behind Aye-Iron.

"Not so fast!" Yuma declared, "during your end phase, I activate my set card Reinforce Truth, which lets me special summon a level two or lower warrior from my deck."

"Either way," Tetsuo replied, "It still can't beat Aye-Iron."

"He's right," Takashi asked, "A level two monster reaching two-thousand attack, on its own, would be absurd. To summarize, whatever monster Yuma summons, it won't be able to beat Aye-Iron."

Yuma pulled his deck out of his duel disk and fanned through it. Like any half-decent duellist should, he knew what cards were in his deck. And he knew that Reinforce Truth could summon two monsters; Vengeful Shinobi and Key Man the Key Warrior.

"Which one do I pick?" Yuma asked himself, "If Vengeful Shinobi gets attacked while in attack position I can draw a card. But Tetsuo isn't attacking right now so…"

A warrior clad in grey and gold armour, with a keyhole in the centre of its chest, appeared on the field. The key themed warrior carried a long key shaped sword and a thick shield with a keyhole marking in the centre.

"I summon Key Man the Key Warrior (1000/500), and he's going to be the key to my victory!"

"I doubt that," Takashi replied, "To summarize, Keyman has only half the attack power of Aye-Iron."

"Well, I'll show you how," Yuma announced. "My turn, draw!" Yuma drew his card, Shine Knight. "Not the attack power I was hoping for, which means that the strongest monster in my hand is Tenshin (800/100). Alright then, I summon Tenshin."

A man, covered in white angelic armour, which was decorated with gold rings and silver wings, appeared next to Key Man. The monster seemed to gain power from its own and Key Man's presence. (800-1600/100)

"What?" Kotori asked, "Why did Tenshin get stronger?"

"Its own effect," Takashi explained. "Tenshin gains an extra four hundred attack for every level two monster Yuma controls. To summarize, with both it and Key Man, level two monsters, on the field, Tenshin's attack rises to one-thousand six hundred. But not enough to beat Aye-Iron."

"Damn it," Yuma cursed, "What else can I do?" he thought deeply, or as deeply a person as thick as Yuma could.

"Any day now," Tetsuo joked.

Yuma thought 'deeply' for a few more seconds, "I got it!" he declared, placing Tenshin over Keyman on his duel disk. "I create an overlay network with my two level two monsters."

Yuma's Tenshin and Key Man, compressed into two small coloured balls, which then flew high into the air, as a portal swirled on the floor. Then a large grey-ish blue rock monster, with several metal bracers found around its body as clawed its way onto the field through the portal, and the two coloured orbs flew down and circled the creature.

"I Xyz summon Gachi Gachi Gantetsu (500/1800) in attack position!"

"Crap," Tetsuo gasped, as he realised Yuma's Xyz monster's effect.

"Yeah that's right," Yuma smiled. "You better be scared, because for each Xyz material attached to Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, all my monster gains 400 attack and defence points!"

A surge of energy rushed through both of Yuma's monsters. (1800-2200/1500-1900) (500-900/1800-2200).

"Now Yuma has a stronger monster than Aye-Iron!" Kotori noted.

"So let's go Dark Blade," Yuma ordered, "Attack Aye-Iron! Double Dark Slash!"

Dark Blade rushed up to Tetsuo's kangaroo-robot-cymbalist, and with a swift horizontal followed by a vertical strike, sliced Aye-Iron into four pieces, the four pieces than disintegrated into pixels.

**[Tetsuo: 8000-7800]**

"And you know what's coming next," Yuma continued, "Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, attack directly! Earth Shattering Shock!"

Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, with surprising speed for a rock monster, dashed toward Tetsuo. When it reached its target the monster gave a running punch to Tetsuo, only to have the AR vision monster pass harmlessly trough him.

**[Tetsuo: 7800-6900]**

"Surprising," Takashi complimented, "Yuma not only inflicted damage first, but he actually Xyz summoned first as well. To summarize, Yuma has improved considerably in duelling skill."

"But it's still Yuma," Kotori quietly replied, "Who knows how long until his skill regresses."

"See, I really am improving," Yuma smirked, "The class rep says so. Turn end."

"Well let's see if I say so, my turn. Draw!" Tetsuo announced, drawing his card. It turned out to be Tin Goldfish, which soon joined the four other cards in his hand; UFO Turtle, Iron Call, Rush Recklessly and another Tin Goldfish.

"I summon Tin Goldfish (800/2000)," Tetsuo announced, as a reddish-orange and blue metallic fish appeared in front of him, the metal fish stuck out its tongue, making a small rapid clicking sound.

"And when Tin Goldfish is normal summoned," Tetsuo continued, "I can special summon a level four monster from my hand."

Another metal fish appeared next to the first, it too stuck out its tongue, making the clicking noise.

"Uh, oh." Yuma gasped, "Two level four monsters."

"Oh it's not just two monsters." Tetsuo corrected Yuma, "I activate the spell card Iron Call, since I control a machine-type monster I can special summon a level four or lower machine monster from my graveyard, like Aye-Iron."

A hole opened up in the floor, leading to a dark abyss below. Aye-Iron rose from the abyss, looking as angry as a robotic kangaroo could, as it slowly crashed its symbols together, as if giving a slow sarcastic applause.

"Three level four monsters," Takashi mused, "Tetsuo can Xyz summon a really powerful monster."

"And that's exactly what I'm going to do!" Tetsuo announced, overlaying all three of his monsters on his duel disk, "I construct an overlay network with my three level four monsters."

Tetsuo's two Tin Goldfish glowed blue, before flying high into the air and turning into small orbs, as did Aye-Iron, but with an orange coloured orb. A portal opened on the ground, and all three orbs rushed in. Then out of the portal, rose a large googly-eyed, round, robotic swordsman. The robotic swordsman had curly blonde 'hair' and a 'moustache'; it wore a fancy red outfit, with golden seams and a pink fluffy garment sitting at the top of the machine's chest.

"I Xyz summon, Tin Archduke (2200/1200)."

"Yuma!" Kotori gasped, clasping her hands over her mouth.

"Oh crap." Yuma stammered, as the shadow of Tin Archduke fell over him and his two monsters.

* * *

Meanwhile, over at the Heartland mall, a young man was preparing the final touches for the stage which was soon to be home to a local duelling tournament. The young man was struggling to pin up homemade streamers, whilst balancing on a small step ladder. He was so occupied by his simple, yet difficult, task that he failed to notice a short boy creep up in the shadows behind him.

"Looks like I've found the perfect situation to fit to my benefit, ura." The boy quietly cackled, smiling ear to ear.

"Huh?" the young man wondered, turning his head. This action caused him to lose his balance and fall of the step ladder, landing painfully on the ground. "Ouch the young man winced, hoping that nobody saw. He only then realised that the step ladder he was using had mysteriously turned itself upside-down…

* * *

** Ham Man: **Well that's chapter one. If you do spot any errors, grammar, card effects, gameplay errors or characters out of character


	2. Chapter 2 - Harmonic Waves

**Ham Man: **Oh my God! It's the end of time!I don't own Yu-Gi-Oh! Phew, I'm glad I got that off my chest.

* * *

**Chapter 2 – Harmonic Waves**

Tetsuo had just summoned his Tin Archduke (2200/1200). The googly-eyed, yellow-haired, fancily dressed machine, held its sword out in front of it.

The huge machine dwarfed the duel field, consisting of Yuma's Dark Blade (2200/1900) and Gachi Gachi Gantetsu (900/200) – with two Overlay Units under it, and Tetsuo's face down card, which promptly flipped up.

"I activate my trap card," Tetsuo announced, "Xyz Effect."

"What?" Yuma gasped, as if he never heard the card before, despite the glaring fact that it was in his deck.

"When I Xyz summon an Xyz monster," Tetsuo explained, "I can activate this trap card, which allows me to destroy one card on the field, and I choose Dark Blade!"

A beam of energy shot out of Tetsuo's trap card, zigzagging its way toward the black armoured warrior. The energy beam struck Dark Blade through the chest, sending the warrior flying backwards before disintegrating in mid air.

"Dark Blade!" Yuma cried, as he slipped the card into his graveyard.

"And now," Tetsuo ordered, "Tin Archduke, attack Gachi Gachi Gantetsu. Archduke's single blow!"

Tin Archduke raised its sword over Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, before bringing it down over the rock monster. The attack kicked up a cloud of virtual dust.

But when the dust cleared, Yuma's monster appeared to be okay, having blocked Tin Archduke's sword with its metal glove. Yuma, on the other hand…

**[Yuma: 8000 – 6700]**

"If Gachi Gachi Gantetsu would be destroyed," Yuma explained. "I can detach an Overlay Unit from it instead."

"Interesting results." Takashi mused, "Yuma's monster saved itself from destruction, but Yuma still took battle damage."

"So now he's losing…" Kotori sighed.

"Well, to summarise," Takashi replied, "He definitely isn't winning."

"I heard that class rep!" Yuma yelled, turning to Takashi.

"Your forgetting something," Tetsuo added, "Since Gachi Gachi Gantetsu, detached an Overlay Unit, it loses 200 attack and defence points." (900-700/2200-2000)

"Yeah, well at least it still has another Overlay Unit," Yuma replied.

"We'll see how long that lasts," said Tetsuo, setting one card in his duel disk. "I set one card face down and end my turn."

A face down card appeared behind Tin Archduke.

"My move!" Yuma announced, readying his draw.

"_Come on deck, give me something good! Fissure, Xyz Effect, Mirror Force, something."_

"Draw!" Yuma narrated, then looked at his card. "Zubaba Knight! How am I supposed to win with that?"

"You're not going to win," Tetsuo replied.

"You keep telling yourself that!" Yuma argued, grabbing two cards in his hand, "I set a monster and a card, then I'll switch my Gachi Gachi Gantetsu to defence position and end my turn."

A facedown monster and card appeared near Yuma's monster, which took a defensive stance, until…

"Your turns not over yet Yuma," Tetsuo declared, "because I activate Tin Archduke's effect, by detaching an Overlay Unit, I can change the battle position of one of your monsters, like Gachi Gachi Gantetsu."

Tin Archduke absorbed an Overlay Unit through its sword as it pointed the blade toward Gachi Gachi Gantetsu. Then as if it had been ordered by its master, the rock monster stood back up in an aggressive position.

"Shit." Yuma cursed under his breath.

"This doesn't look good." Takashi pondered, "Tetsuo's monster can forcibly change Yuma's monsters battle positions."

"That's bad," Kotori noted, but then added. "It is bad, isn't it?"

"Yes," Takashi answered, "To summarize, Yuma isn't in control of his own monsters. And a duellist who isn't in control of his own monsters is bound for trouble."

"My move!" Tetsuo announced as he drew a card from his deck, he had only two cards in his hand; UFO Turtle and his newly drawn card, Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive. "I summon UFO Turtle (1400/1200)."

A circle of fire started to whirl next to Tin Archduke. After a few seconds the fire slowly dissipated, revealing a shiny silver object shaped like a typical UFO, or Unidentified Flying Object. As the UFO continued to slowly spin, four green, scaly, wrinkled legs popped out from the silver object followed by the head of a turtle.

"Now let's see what your face down monster is," Tetsuo continued, "I detach another Overlay Unit to change your face down monster into attack position."

Archduke absorbed another material floating around it with its sword, then pointed it towards Yuma set monster. The card flipped up revealing a knight dressed in shining white armour and a bright clean white cape, the warrior wielding an even shinier lance.

"So Yuma's set card was Shine Knight (400-600/1900-2100)," Kotori wondered aloud. "Well it's a lot brighter than Yuma, I'll say that."

"Crap," Yuma panicked, "I've got two weak monsters out, and I can't defend them."

"Now," Tetsuo smiled "It's time to attack. UFO Turtle, attack Gachi Gachi Gantetsu."

UFO Turtle retracted its legs and head inside its UFO shell, then began to spin rapidly heading toward Gachi Gachi Gantetsu.

"But don't forget," Yuma yelled mid attack, "I can detach an Overlay Unit to protect my monster from being destroyed."

Yuma's Xyz monster grabbed the spinning turtle-UFO mid attack, and managed to throw the attacker away. Then its single remaining Overlay Unit was absorbed into the creatures back.

**[Yuma: 6700 – 6000]**

"Now that Gachi Gachi Gantetsu has no Overlay Units left," Takashi summarised, "Yuma's monsters will no longer get a power boost." (Shine Knight: 600-400/2100-1900) (Gachi Gachi Gantetsu: 700-500/2000-1800)

"Now Tin Archduke," Tetsuo continued, "Attack Gachi Gachi Gantetsu! Archduke single blow!"

Tin Archduke raised its sword, then brought it down, effortlessly slicing Gachi Gantetsu in half, leaving the two halves of the rock monster to shatter. The force of the attack knocked Yuma to the ground.

**[Yuma: 6000 – 4300]**

"Yuma," Kotori gasped, clasping her hand over her mouth again.

"He's lost almost half of his life points," Takashi noted, "I wonder how long it will take for Yuma to lose the other half?"

"Don't worry class rep." Tetsuo answered, "not much longer, I can be sure of that. I'll end my turn."

"It's my turn!" Yuma announced, drawing a card. He then inspected his hand, Ganbara Knight, Harmonic Waves, Zubaba Knight and his new card Marauding Captain. _"I have to summon Utopia this turn, or Tetsuo could finish me off on the next. Let's see, the only level 4 monster I have now is Ganbara Knight. Oh wait, I almost forgot. Shine Knight is level 4 while in defence position."_

"Any day now Yuma," Tetsuo teased.

"Alright, alright." Yuma replied, slipping Ganbara Knight (0/1800) onto his duel disk. "I summon Ganbara Knight."

A heavily armoured warrior with two large rectangular shields fell from the sky, landing next to Shine Knight.

"Next," Yuma continued, "I'll switch my Shine Knight to defence position."

"That's right!" Takashi summarised, "While Shine Knight is in defence position, it become levels four, to summarise, Yuma can Xyz summon as his monsters are both level four."

Shine Knight knelt down, putting itself in a much more defendable position, but then suddenly it stood back up.

"What!" Yuma yelled, but stopped himself as he realised what had happened "I told you to change to defence… Tin Archduke, I forgot about that effect!"

Yuma turned to Tetsuo's monster to see the machine with its sword drawn and pointing toward Shine Knight, and not a single Overlay Unit in sight.

"Looks like you're not Xyz summoning anything now," Tetsuo chuckled.

"He's right, Yuma's monster are different levels again." Takashi noted. "As Shine Knight is only level four while in face up defence position."

"Takashi, you don't have to explain everything," Kotori sighed.

"Crap!" Yuma panicked, frantically looking through the three cards in his hand, grabbing the spell card in his hand. "I activate Harmonic Waves, which allows me to target one monster on the field and change its level to four… and I'm targeting my Shine Knight."

Four beams of light ran along the ground, meeting in a X formation under Shine Knight. A beam of light shot up from the ground and engulfed Shine Knight. (Level: 3-4)

"Two level four monsters," Takashi gasped, "now Yuma can overlay them to summon an Xyz monster."

"… That's right," Yuma triumphantly replied, but with enough hesitation to see that he was lying. "I construct an overlay network, using Ganbara Knight and Shine Knight as Overlay Units!"

Both knights compressed into two small yellow orbs before flying off into the air. Then a red spiral portal opened on the field, slowly swirling as the two balls of light flew into it, causing a brightly coloured explosion to burst through the portal.

"I Xyz summon, Number 39: Utopia (2500/2000)."

A large white and golden armoured warrior emerged from the portal; the warrior wielded a large sword. Three golden spikes formed a somewhat crown-like object around the warriors head, two white wings - which looked folded – hung behind the monster. The number 39 was printed in red on the creature left shoulder pad.

"Go Yuma!" Kotori cheered.

**(Line Break)**

Back at the Heartland Mall, the store owner was still preparing the final touches for the duel tournament. Standing on his now upright step ladder

He had been surprised by the amount of attention the idea drew. Duel Monsters had always been a popular game, but the sheer amount of people signing up made him regret having put a firm limit on eight entrants.

The entrant's names were written down on a piece of paper sitting on the store counter, but the store owner went over them in his head again; "Takashi Todoroki, Tetsuo Takeda, Yuma Tsukumo…"

The store owner's mental recital was interrupted by a loud crashing noise. He turned to see a short brown haired boy, large circular green framed glasses sat on the boy's face. The boys outfit consisted of a blue suit with yellow seams, with light pink frills around the waist and sleeves, the boy had a D-Pad his arm. The boy also wore baggy pants of the same colour. His ridiculous outfit was both literally and figuratively topped off by a blue hat with a yellow shooting star.

"Urrr… Hello." The man asked.

"Hello." The boy smiled, "May I ask what you are doing? Ura."

"I'm… setting up for a duel monsters tournament,"

"A tournament?" The boy gave a surprised reply. "Can I join? Ura."

"I'm sorry, but registration is over."

"I wasn't asking," The boy replied, glancing at a bunch of displays that had been knocked onto the floor. "But it's a nice store you have here, be a shame if something happened to it, ura."

**(Line Break)**

"Now," Yuma ordered, "Utopia, attack Tin Archduke! Hope Blade Slash!"

Utopia swung its sword over its head, the sword colliding with Tin Archduke's, as the two monsters began a struggle for survival.

"If you think Utopia stands a chance of winning," Tetsuo smiled, "I activate my facedown card, Rush Recklessly, which increases the attack of my Tin Archduke by 700 points!" (2200-2900)

"Now Tin Archduke has more attack," Takashi noted, "to summarise, Utopia is doomed."

A burst of energy rushed into Tin Archduke, causing the giant machine to move faster, quickly drawing it sword.

"Not so fast!" Yuma ironically countered, "I activate my trap card, Reinforced Space! This card gives all Xyz monsters I control 300 extra attack for each Overlay Unit attached to them, and since Utopia has two that means he gains…" Yuma stalled, as the two battling monsters drew closer.

"Six hundred extra attack points," Yuma was informed by Takashi. (Number 39: Utopia 2500-3100)

"Yeah!" Yuma cheered, "now Utopia can beat Tin Archduke!"

Utopia and Tin Archduke's swords clashed together, the sound of scraping metal screech throughout the room.

"Somebody, stop that awful noise," Kotori whined, covering her ears with her hands.

"What a terrible noise!" Takashi shouted. "I it keeps up my eardrums will burst!"

The noise was finally stopped by Utopia snapping Tin Archduke's in half with its blade, then continuing slicing through the mechanical Austrian royalty.

**[Tetsuo: 6900-6700]**

"Crap," Tetsuo swore, "He beat my best monster!"

"Yeah I guess I did," Yuma smiled, as he looked through his hand. "Since I can't do anything else I guess I just end my turn."

"My move!" Tetsuo announced as he drew his card, Forbidden Chalice._ "This might come in handy" _he thought, _"but I need to get a strong monster out, negating Utopia's effect isn't enough to destroy it. Also, Yuma has Zubaba Knight in his hand, which destroys face-up defence position monsters it attacks."_

"Any day now," Yuma smiled, happy to be making a turnaround.

"Has he really turned this duel around?" Takashi wondered aloud.

"I set a monster and a card and end my turn," Tetsuo grumped, as two face down cards appeared in front of him.

"My turn! Draw!" Yuma announced, drawing. "Not the best draw," he moaned, "but oh well. I'll just summon Marauding Captain (1200/400)."

A blonde haired, dirty looking swordsman appeared next to Utopia. The warrior wielded two swords, a large broadsword and a smaller narrower blade. The warrior wore green armour and a long dark blue cape.

"And when Marauding Captain is normal summoned," Yuma continued, "I can special summon a level four or lower monster from my hand, like my Zubaba Knight! (1600/900)"

Marauding Captain's appearance was followed by another double wielding warrior, this one dressed in red and yellow armour and wore a red cape. Its two teethed swords carried an orange 'Z' insignia.

"Next I construct an overlay network using my two level three monsters!" Yuma announced, as Marauding Captain and Zubaba Knight turned into glowing orange orbs, which then flew into the air.

"I Xyz summon Grenosaurus! (2000/1900)"

A spiral portal opened on the ground and both orange orbs flew in, creating a small but colourful explosion. A few seconds later, a red dinosaur with flaming eyes rose out of the portal, roaring loudly. The monster had several metallic objects stuck to its body, including a line of bolts along its spine and metal guards wrapped around the lower half of its legs.

"Shit," Tetsuo muttered, "Two Xyz monsters."

"Now let's go Grenosaurus!" Yuma ordered, "Attack UFO Turtle, Fire Fang Flash!"

Grenosaurus dashed toward its fellow fire attribute, as UFO turtle retracted into its shell. Despite its attempts to shield itself, Grenosaurus tore through the UFO compartments metal with it large teeth, causing the extra-terrestrial turtle to shatter into pixels.

**[Tetsuo: 6700-6100]**

"And now!" Yuma continued, "Since Grenosaurus destroyed a monster by battle. I can detach an Overlay Unit to inflict 1000 points of damage to you!"

"One thousand points damage," Takashi noted, "That'll put Tetsuo down to 5100 life points!"

"No kidding," Kotori sighed. She may have not known how to duel, but she did know math.

Grenosaurus stood over Tetsuo, opening its mouth wide in front of the boy. The dinosaur the spewed holographic flames over Tetsuo, before dashing back to Yuma's field.

**[Tetsuo: 6100-5100]**

"Since my UFO Turtle was destroyed by battle," Tetsuo explained, "I can special summon a fire attribute monster from my deck in face-up attack position. Like another UFO Turtle."

In a burst of fire, another extra-terrestrial turtle appeared in front of Tetsuo.

"Fine then," Yuma replied, "Utopia attack the other UFO turtle! Hope Blade Slash!"

Utopia drew it sword and flew toward Tetsuo's second turtle, the defenceless creature never even had time to pull itself into its shell before Utopia sliced it in two.

**[Tetsuo: 5100-4000]**

"Halfway there!" Yuma cheered, jumping up and down in celebration.

"Don't get you're hopes up," Tetsuo growled, as a third UFO Turtle appeared in a ball of fire in front of him.

"Whatever," Yuma replied, "Look at the field, I've got two powerful monsters out, and you've only got a face down monster. I set one card face down and end my turn."

A face down card appeared behind Utopia.

"My turn!" Tetsuo announced drawing and checking his card. He couldn't believe his luck, Limiter Removal. "I flip summon my face down monster Dekoichi the Battlechanted Locomotive (1400/1000)!"

Tetsuo' set card flipped up, and a set of railroad tracks assembled themselves. Then, shrouded in its own steam, a black steam train chugged out of the card, the train itself pulled red cargo carriages. Once the steam cleared, the train was revealed to have a devilish face at its front, its red eyes glaring at Yuma.

"And now thanks to Dekoichi's flip effect," Tetsuo continued, placing his hand on his deck. "I get to draw one card," Tetsuo's eyes widened, and he immediately activated the card he drew. "I activate Monster Reborn!"

"…Monster Reborn?" Yuma stammered, almost in disbelief.

A large circle of dark runes appeared on the ground, forming another type of portal. The inside of the runes turned black as Tin Archduke emerged from the other side.

"Huh!" Yuma laughed triumphantly, "I almost forgot that Tin Archduke was weaker than Utopia."

"Not for long!" Tetsuo smirked, "Because I activate Limiter Removal."

The words hit Yuma hard, _Limiter Removal _one the strongest cards in Tetsuo's deck, doubling the current attack of all machines he controlled.

A massive electrical shocked all three of Tetsuo's monsters, powering them up. UFO Turtle retracted into its shell and began spinning (1400-2800), Dekoichi blew its whistle and gave off more steam (1400-2800), and Tin Archduke raised its sword (2200-4400).

"Two two thousand eight hundreds plus four thousand four hundred is…" Takashi thought out loud. "A combined total of ten thousand attack. To summarise, Yuma is defiantly going to lose."

"Hold on class rep!" Yuma called, "Utopia can still negate attacks, and Tetsuo's machines will be destroyed at the end of the turn."

"No Yuma," Tetsuo corrected, "The class rep is right. One, my monster's won't be destroyed because there isn't going to be and end to this turn, and two," Tetsuo's face down card flipped up, "I activate the trap card, Forbidden Chalice, targeting your Utopia, negating its effects until the end phase, but in exchange it gains 400 attack!"

The two Overlay Unit orbs floating around Utopia turned grey, as well as the core object in Utopia's chest plate. (2500-2900)

"Shit," Yuma cursed, realising how little he could do to prevent his own defeat.

"Now Dekoichi!" Tetsuo ordered, "Attack Grenosaurus! Full Steam Charge!"

The railroad track extended itself from Tetsuo side of the field, and under Grenosaurus. This was followed by a raging steam engine speeding down the line, heading straight for Yuma's flaming dinosaur.

Grenosaurus braced itself to attack the oncoming train. But to no avail, as the giant lizard was knocked back and destroyed, proving that the steam engine really did kill the dinosaurs.

**[Yuma: 4300-3500]**

"Now Tin Archduke," Tetsuo ordered, "Attack Utopia! Archduke's single revenge blow!"

Tin Archduke, with substantially increased speed and agility, dashed toward Yuma's Utopia before leaping into the air, sword drawn and held overhead.

"Utopia!" Yuma cried.

"Ugh," Kotori groaned, placing her hands over her ears. "here comes that horrible noise again."

But the horrible noise never happened, as Tin Archduke's and Utopia's swords met for the second time. However this time, Tin Archduke's sword sliced through Utopia's own, then continued slicing through the weapon's owner as well, cleaving the white and gold warrior in two.

"Utopia!" Yuma cried as second time, as the halves of his favourite monster disintegrated.

**[Yuma: 3500-2000]**

"Now UFO Turtle," Tetsuo ordered, smiling ear to ear, "End this! Attack Yuma directly!" Tetsuo's final UFO Turtle retracted its limbs and head into its spaceship of a shell, then began spinning much faster than any of the other turtles had.

"_Shit," Yuma though, "If I take this attack head on I'll lose. Oh crap! What do I do? What do I do?"_

Red flames started to roar around UFO Turtle as it rose into the air.

"Oh no!" Kotori gasped, "if this last attack hits, Yuma will lose!"

"Tetsuo's monster has two thousand eight hundred attack, and Yuma has only two thousand life points remaining," Takashi noted, "To summarise Yuma has lost."

OFU Turtle hurdled toward Yuma, the flaming mass of metal reptile hurtled toward Yuma, kicking up a cloud of virtual dust.

But when the dust cleared, despite what everyone else had established, Yuma was found to be standing. But the same couldn't be said for the poor key themed warrior passed out on the ground in front of him. His armour and shield split and cracked. Moments later, the warrior disintegrated; along with the now face up trap behind it.

**[Yuma: 2000-200]**

"He survived!" Tetsuo gasped.

"But how?" Kotori asked.

"Well I…" Yuma started, but was cut off by a clearly frustrated Tetsuo.

"His damn trap card," Tetsuo explained, "Limit Reverse, it revives a monster with 1000 or less attack from Yuma's graveyard, however if Yuma is ever stupid enough to switch his monster to defence, it'll automatically be destroyed."

"And, the revived monster," Takashi continued, "Key Man the Key Warrior, has one thousand attack points. To summarise, Yuma lost one thousand life points less than he should of, which equates to one thousand eight hundred points of damage and since Yuma had two thousand life points left he survived with two hundred life points remaining."

"Thanks guys," Kotori sarcastically sighed.

"I guess I end my turn," Tetsuo grumbled, as smoke began to pour out of his three monsters.

"I'm not even going to ask this time," Kotori sighed.

"Since it's the end phase of the turn Limiter Removal was used, all of Tetsuo's machine monsters affected by it will be destroyed."

And just like Takashi said, all three of Tetsuo's machines began to fall apart and rust over. Before completely collapsing in on themselves, leaving a pile of rusty metal and turtle limbs, the pile of metal then broke into even smaller disappearing pixels.

"Wait so now," Yuma smiled, "Neither of us have any cards in our hands, or any on the field. And it's my turn."

"Yes its anybody's game now," Takashi summarised. "Whoever draws the best card next."

"And it's my turn," Yuma smiled, eagerly placing his hand on his deck. "Kattobingu, Draw!" Yuma flipped over his drawn, and only, card; Blade Knight (1600/1000). His smiled widened itself, "I summon Blade Knight."

A slim warrior, covered in light blue armour appeared in front of Yuma. The warrior raised its curved sword into the air, as it gained a blue aura.

"Now Blade Knight's effect kicks in," Yuma explained, "If I have one or fewer cards in my hand, Blade Knights gains 400 attack." (1600-2000). "Now Blade Knight attack Tetsuo directly! Blade Cut!"

"Crap," Tetsuo gasped, as the slim warrior clumsily dashed toward him, his armour clearing weighing him down. Blade Knight swung its sword down on Tetsuo, who only just managed to dive out of the way, having forgotten his attacker was a harmless hologram.

**[Tetsuo: 4000-2000]**

"I guess you'll end your turn now," Tetsuo glared.

"No," Yuma replied, before realising he couldn't do anything else. "Yes."

"Come on deck," Tetsuo grunted, "don't let me down." Tetsuo drew his card, Helping Robo for Combat (1600/0). Tetsuo looked at the card for a second, wondering which position to play it in.

"We don't have all day!" Yuma called, "in fact, I think we're already late."

"Shut up!" Tetsuo snapped, "I summon Helping Robo for Combat."

A tall, thin dark silver robot appeared in front of Tetsuo, the robot had a frying built into its left arm, and a vacuum cleaner for the other. A wire basket was attached to the robot's back, two belt tracks moved the robot along the ground.

"Huh?" Yuma asked, "What's that thing supposed to do, clean my room and cook me dinner?"

"I don't think anything could clean your room, let alone that attic you sleep in" Kotori added, making Yuma blush with embarrassment.

"In end my turn." Tetsuo sighed, praying Yuma didn't draw anything that could finish him off.

"My turn!" Yuma excitedly announced, "Kattobingu, draw!" He looked at the card he drew; Field Commander Rahz. "Alright! I summon Field Commander Rahz (1600/1200) to my field!"

A warrior, in damaged, faded-silver armour and a tattered black cape appeared next to blade knight. The warrior's brown hair, was held in place by a red headband. Rahz wielded a damaged sword in one hand, holding the sword's sheath with his other hand.

"Shit!" Tetsuo swore, as he realised the outcome of the duel.

"Yuma… won…" Takashi said with utter disbelief.

"Blade Knight! Attack Helping Robo! Blade Cut!"

Once again, Blade Knight clumsily rushed over to Tetsuo's side of the field, sword raised above its head, eventually bringing it down, cutting Helping Robo in half, the two halves then shattered.

**[Tetsuo: 2000-1600]**

"Now, Field Commander Rahz!" Yuma ordered, "Attack Tetsuo directly! Field Finishing Blow!"

Tetsuo closed his eyes as Rahz dashed toward him full speed. Meanwhile the rugged warrior jumped high into the air, swinging his sword over his head. The warrior brought the entire strike down onto Tetsuo, knocking the large boy to the ground.

**[Tetsuo: 1600-0]**

The sound of a horn buzzed, ending the game. A screen flashing 'Winner! Yuma!' flashed over Yuma's head. Then the field began to change back to a regular classroom, as Blade Knight, Field Commander Rahz and the winner screen faded.

Tetsuo sat up, rubbing the back of his head, "How the hell did I lose?" he asked himself.

"Yo won Yuma!" cheered Kotori.

"Yeah! That's right!" Yuma boasted, "I won!" Yuma rallied himself up, to attempt another back flip. "Kattobin…" Only to land on his face, again.

"Heh," Tetsuo laughed, "One of these days you'll break your nose doing that."

"Well…" Yuma motioned.

"I… guess I'm sorry… that I called you an idiot." Tetsuo awkwardly apologised.

"Well, I guess I'm sorry… I called you fat, and I guess it's my fault we didn't sign up for the tournament…"

"Damn it!" Both boys cursed, realise that their extremely long scuffle had taken too long.

"Now we'll never be in the tournament," Yuma sniffed, tears welling in his eyes.

"I guess we're both idiots." Tetsuo sighed, his eyes watering.

"I'm sorry!" Both boys cried, and hugged each other, bawling their eyes out.

"It's just a tournament guys," Kotori sighed, "there's no reason to cry about missing it."

"Alright," Takashi admitted, "I really should have said this earlier, but yesterday. I signed the three of us for the tournament. So… to… summarise, all three of us will be competing, provided we show up on t…" Takashi's summary was cut off by Yuma and Tetsuo, still uncontrollably crying, forcibly pulling Takashi into their hug.

"Thankyou, class rep." Yuma wailed, "You're the best class rep ever!"

"We couldn't live without you!" Tetsuo whimpered through tears.

"That's… okay…" Takashi panted, "but could you… please… let me go… you're both crushing me."

However Takashi's pleas once again went unheard.

Yuma then turned his head to face Kotori, his eyes, now large round white circles, tears streamed down his face, and snot ran from his nose. "Come on Kotori," Yuma offered, "join in the hug…"

"No!" Kototi sternly declined, taking a few steps back, "That's disgusting!"

"Tell me… about it," Takashi moaned, from inside the teary hug.

* * *

"Gah!" The store owner cried, as he flew backward, landing on the ground with a loud crash. The sound of a horn, echoed through the room.

**[Tomaru: 0]**

"What do you want?' Tomaru quivered, as the short boy approached him, a wide mischievous smile painted across the lower half of his face.

"You should know exactly what I want, Ura." The boy smiled. "A position in your tournament!"

"But we're full!" Tomura replied.

"Well then cross someone off, ura!" The boy demanded, handing Tomura a piece of paper. "And place Tokunosuke Omoteura on instead."

"Okay, okay…" Tomura agreed, grabbing a pen from his pocket, and crossed out a name from the list, then began spelling out loud. "T-O-K- how do you even spell your name?" he asked.

"Tokunosuke Otomeura," the boy of the same name angrily answered, "T-O-K-U-N-O-S-U-K-E O-M-O-T-E-U-R-A, ura."

"So it's Tokunosuke Omoteura-ura." Tomura replied.

Tokunosuke winced. _"How did this guy even organise a tournament, he can barely spell my name!"_

* * *

_27/9/13 - fixed a few errors; line breaks missing and I misspelt Tokunosuke's last name._


End file.
